BOARDMAN — Hanging from a tree in the Dravecky family’s front yard is a bucket with three tubes feeding into it.

That bucket has been collecting sap since the beginning of March, a hobby that 12-year-old Tanner decided to take on last year.

Tanner and his peers at Boardman Center Intermediate School would watch “Mystery Doug” each Friday in fifth-grade science class last year. A question came up about maple syrup: whether it can be ingested right from a tree.

Tanner received for Christmas a tree-tapping kit, and his curiosity has turned into a family project that includes mom Jenn and dad George.

Tanner found in his research that to make one gallon of syrup, he will need to collect roughly 45 gallons of the clear, water-like sap from the trees.

Read Sunday’s Vindicator to learn more about Tanner’s project.